Philip Farkas
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Philip Farkas (March 5, 1914 – December 21, 1992) was the principal French horn player in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for many years, and he left in 1960 to join the music faculty at Indiana University Bloomington. His books include The Art of French Horn Playing (considered the field's seminal work), The Art of Brass Playing, The Art of Musicianship, and A Photo Study of 40 Virtuoso Horn Players' Embouchures. Nancy Jordan Fako wrote his biography, Philip Farkas and His Horn - A Happy, Worthwhile Life. Later in his life he helped design the Holton Farkas horn.
Life
Farkas was born on March 5, 1914, in Chicago to Anna Cassidy Farkas and Emil Nelson Farkas. March 5 is called the Horn
Farkas had to take a street car to school, and the conductor began to complain at the tuba's size. Farkas asked him what instrument would be more convenient and the conductor pointed to a horn case belonging to a band that was on the street. Soon after, Farkas and his father went to downtown Chicago and rented a Schmidt horn for three dollars a month.
After playing for a while, he pursued a profession as a horn player. While still in high school, he became the youngest member of the All-Chicago High School Orchestra, first horn player in the
He played first chair in the
.Farkas held many clinics and performed as a soloist nationwide. He founded the Wind Music Inc. publishing company. He partnered with
He designed the top-selling
He continued to practice his horn every day until his death on December 21, 1992, at the age of 78.[where?]
It is my desire to create such a book, containing not only the findings of my own years of experience, but that of my teachers, which prompts me to write so complex a subject as horn playing. But, if some day I might hear a solo beautifully played and would hear the soloist say afterward 'Your book helped me do that', I would feel repaid for my effort a hundred times over.
— Philip Farkas, The Art of French Horn Playing
See also
References
Published works
- Farkas, Philip (1970). A Photographic Study of 40 Virtuoso Horn Players' Embouchures. Bloomington, Indiana: Wind Music, Inc. p. 41.
- Farkas, Philip (1962). The Art of Brass Playing: A Treatise on the Formation and Use of the Brass Player's Embouchure. Atlanta, Georgia: Wind Music, TAP Publications. p. 6.
Biography
- Stewart, M. Dee, ed. (1990). Philip Farkas: The Legacy of a Master: The Man who Defined Symphonic Horn Playing as Seen Through his Writings and the Comments of Colleagues and Students. Northfield, Illinois: Instrumentalist Publishing Company. p. 157.
- Jordan Fako, Nancy (1998). Philip Farkas & His Horn: A Happy, Worthwhile Life. ISBN 0-9662587-0-3.